Five-Run 2nd Inning Not Enough for Red Wings
The Pawtucket Red Sox appeared to be on their way to a blowout loss in front of the 9,109 fans who showed-up on Armed Services Night at McCoy Stadium, but the PawSox scored the last eight runs to take the ballgame 8-6.
After not recording a baserunner in the first three innings, the PawSox offense scored four runs in the fourth, one in the sixth, two in the seventh to take a one-run lead and then scored an insurance run to grab a two-run lead in the eighth.
Kevin Millwood was well on his way to earning his first loss as a member of the Pawtucket Red Sox when he gave up five, second-inning runs to quickly put his team behind the visiting Rochester Red Wings. He trailed 6-0 when he finished his fourth inning of work, but a come-from-behind effort by the offense spared him a loss. On the evening Millwood tossed 83 pitches over four innings, surrendering nine hits, two walks, six runs- all earned- while striking out six.
Millwood's six runs over four innings came in stark contrast to his last four starts in which he gave up just four earned runs in 25.1 innings - a 1.78 ERA over that stretch. Despite Millwood's overall record sitting at 3-0, the PawSox are now 6-0 in games in which he has started.
Rochester's starting pitcher Andy Baldwin retired the first nine batters he faced and seemed unhittable before Che-Hsuan Lin doubled to lead-off Pawtucket's largest offensive output of the night. Trailing 6-0 entering the bottom of the fourth inning, Pawtucket put up four runs to crawl back to within striking distance of the Red Wings.
In the fourth inning, the next three batters singled after Lin's double which made the score 6-2. After Hector Luna and Nate Spears were retired, Brent Dlugach singled up the middle through the legs of Baldwin to drive in Ryan Lavarnway and Lars Anderson. After Dlugach's single, the score was 6-4 Rochester.
Hector Luna's seventh homerun of the season to the berm in left-center field made it a one-run ballgame in the sixth inning. After the two-out homer to Luna, Baldwin struck out Matt Sheely who entered the game as a sixth-inning defensive replacement for Nate Spears.
Baldwin came out for the seventh inning and promptly allowed a homerun to the leadoff hitter Dlugach to tie the game. Dlugach would finish the game with three RBI and Baldwin would finish his evening with a no-decision despite holding a six-run lead as he came out to pitch in the bottom of the fourth.
Randy Williams pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his third save of the season and lower his season ERA to 0.64. Jason Rice, Scott Atchison and Williams combined for five scoreless innings in relief of Millwood.
The second game of the six-game homestand will feature Kyle Weiland (6-6, 3.33 ERA) against the Red Wings' Eric Hacker (3-6, 4.80 ERA). It will be foam finger night at the ballpark and the first 3,000 fans 14-years old and younger with receive a PawSox #1 Foam Finger sponsored by the UPS Store and Cat Country 98.1 FM. First pitch for Wednesday's game will be 7:05pm.